Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Grows Stake in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Free Report) by 56.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 266,881 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 96,574 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Haleon were worth $2,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Haleon by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 108,827,814 shares of the company's stock worth $1,038,217,000 after buying an additional 3,909,545 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Haleon by 67.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,328,325 shares of the company's stock worth $146,232,000 after acquiring an additional 6,175,835 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Haleon by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,624,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,274,000 after acquiring an additional 161,865 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Haleon by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,307 shares of the company's stock worth $72,793,000 after acquiring an additional 58,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Haleon by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,014,903 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,382,000 after buying an additional 930,701 shares during the last quarter. 6.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HLN shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Haleon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Haleon in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised Haleon from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $11.25 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $11.25.

Haleon Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE HLN traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $10.75. 17,704,934 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,739,790. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $48.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.24. Haleon plc has a 52-week low of $8.22 and a 52-week high of $10.85.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Haleon had a return on equity of 14.76% and a net margin of 10.85%. The business had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Haleon plc will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.1166 per share. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This is an increase from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. Haleon's dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Haleon Profile

Haleon plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of various consumer healthcare products in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides oral health products, such as toothpastes, mouth washes, and denture care products under the Sensodyne, Polident, Parodontax, Biotene brands; and vitamins, minerals, and supplements under Centrum, Emergen-C, Caltrate brands.